The present invention relates to a vehicle interior panel inside of which an airbag apparatus is installed.
An airbag apparatus is a popular restraint apparatus for a vehicle passenger, and is commonly arranged to expand an airbag upon detecting an impact in a vehicle collision so as to dispose the inflated airbag between a vehicle body and a vehicle passenger for the purpose of protecting the vehicle passenger from the impact due to the vehicle collision.
In recent years, such airbag apparatuses come widespread use and have become installed at a side wall above a front-door window as a side airbag for protecting a passenger from a lateral directional impact, in addition to an installation of the airbag at a steering wheel for a driver seat and at a vehicle interior panel for a front passenger seat In such airbag apparatuses, the passenger side airbag apparatus installed under the vehicle interior panel has normally produced by separately preparing an airbag cover for covering the airbag apparatus and a vehicle interior panel and by installing the airbag cover in the vehicle interior panel. However, in recent years, there is increased requests for improving manufacturability and external appearance of the passenger side airbag by integrating the airbag cover and the vehicle interior panel
There have been proposed various passenger side airbag apparatuses produced by integrating the airbag cover and the vehicle interior panel. For example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-142296 discloses an integrated structure of an airbag cover and a vehicle interior panel. The integrated panel has been comprised of a cushion layer between a base member and a skin member so as to give a soft and cushioning property to the panel. A door base member is installed at an opening of a panel base member of a vehicle interior panel, and the door base member is opened due to the inflation of an airbag.